There was pandemonium in Anambra state on Friday morning over news of rampaging gunmen. Lately, residents of Anambra and other parts of the South East have come under attacks. On Monday, gunmen shot some residents of Ebonyi who failed to comply with the sit-at-home order. Traders in Nnewi, Onitsha, Awka and other places hurriedly closed their shops, and offices and scuttled to safety over rumour that gunmen were closing in. Sunday Ukaegbu, a spare parts...
BusinessNewsNigeriaTinubu appoints Taiwo Oyedele chairman of new committee on tax reforms
By Ezinwanne Onwuka (Senior Reporter)July 8, 2023
President Bola Tinubu, on Friday, approved the establishment of a presidential committee on fiscal policy and tax reforms and has appointed Taiwo Oyedele to chair the committee. Oyedele is the fiscal policy partner and Africa tax leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, a network of firms in 152 countries that offers business advisory services such as auditing, accounting, taxation, strategy management, and human resource consulting services. Announcing the development in a statement, Dele Alake, special adviser to...
Crime & SecurityNewsNigeriaWoman, husband remanded in prison for using underage girls for prostitution
PilotnewsJuly 8, 2023
A Children, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Court, sitting in Anambra State, has ordered the remanding of one Mrs Ekpereamaka Okonkwo, 39 years and her husband, Mr Okechukwu Okonkwo, 36 years, in prison. The woman was last week arrested, after her brothel was bursted by youth of Oba community in Idemili North Local Government Area, for using underage girls for prostitution. She however escaped to Asaba, Delta State, and later sent her husband, Okechukwu Okonkwo to...
NewsNigeriaSocial MediaMusk accuses Zuckerberg of stealing Twitter’s intellectual property
By Ezinwanne Onwuka (Senior Reporter)July 8, 2023
Following the launch of Threads, a social media platform that has been dubbed ‘Twitter killer’, Elon Musk has accused Meta of trade secret theft through the hiring of ‘dozens’ of former Twitter employees. Threads, an Instagram-linked platform, went live on Wednesday evening with 30 million user sign-ups less than 24 hours after launching. The app’s concept bears similarities to Twitter’s core functionality, where users can reply to and conversationally build upon existing tweets. Meta’s CEO,...
LifestyleNewsNigeriaCameroonian model recants plan to embark on 200-hour sex-thon for GWR
By Ezinwanne Onwuka (Senior Reporter)July 8, 2023
A Cameroonian pastry chef and model, Danny Zara who earlier announced her plan to set a new Guinness World Record, GWR, for the longest sex hour has backtracked on her decision. In a Facebook post on Thursday, Zara said her goal was a 200-hour sex streak. According to a flyer she shared on Facebook, the eight-day sex marathon will begin on July 17, 2023, and end on July 25. The 25-year-old model further disclosed that...
NewsNigeriaPoliticsAnambra Government Moves to Mitigate Environmental Degradation
Ebuka Onyekwelu (Staff Writer)July 7, 2023
Anambra State Commissioner for Environment Engr. Felix Odimegwu, has intensified efforts to checkmate the rapid environmental crisis witnessed across the state in form of erosion and watershed. Speaking in a brief exclusive conversation with The West African Pilot News during a tree planting exercise around specified locations within the capital city Awka on Thursday, Engr. Felix Odimegwu said that Anambra State Ministry of Environment is guided by Governor Soludo’s mandate that the state must plant...
Human Rights & FreedomNewsNigeriaIntersociety accuses Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch of political partisanship
By Ezinwanne Onwuka (Senior Reporter)July 7, 2023
The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, has called for the appointment of a non-Nigerian Researcher on Nigeria Affairs for the Human Rights Watch, HRW. The group, in a statement dated Thursday, 6 July 2023, also solicited a leadership overhaul of Amnesty International, AI, Nigeria. Emeka Umeagbalasi, the board chair of Intersociety, stated that the demands were imperative to purge the HRW and AI’s “advocacy activities in the country of entrenched...
NewsNigeriaPoliticsOyebanji bans kiss-a-thon, ‘other events like it’ in Ekiti State
By Ezinwanne Onwuka (Senior Reporter)July 7, 2023
The Ekiti State Government has issued a notice prohibiting the organisers of a proposed kiss-a-thon in Ado-Ekiti, the State capital, from going ahead with the ‘immoral’ event. The kiss-a-thon, aimed at setting a new Guinness World Records, GWR, for the longest kissing marathon category, was slated to begin on 7 July 2023 and end on July 10. However, as the organisers of the event was gearing up to bring the trophy home, the Governor Biodun...
NewsNigeriaPoliticsAbia State Government to adopt Treasury Single Account on Sept. 1
By Ezinwanne Onwuka (Senior Reporter)July 7, 2023
The Governor of Abia State, Alex Otti has said that the State will transition to a Treasury Single Account, TSA, system on 1 September 2023. The Governor made the announcement at a town hall meeting with the leaderships of the transport unions and markets in the State, held at the Banquet Hall of the Government House in Umuahia, the Abia State capital on Wednesday. The TSA entails that from September 1, all monies accruing to...
NewsNigeriaPoliticsTinubu signs four executive orders to ease tax burden on businesses, households
By Ezinwanne Onwuka (Senior Reporter)July 7, 2023
President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, signed four executive orders, including the suspension of the five per cent excise tax on telecommunication services, as well as the excise duties escalation on locally manufactured products. This was disclosed by Dele Alake, the special adviser to the President on special duties, communications, and strategy at a press briefing. Read the full text of Alake’s statement below: STATE HOUSE PRESS BRIEFING ON PRESIDENTIAL INTERVENTIONS ON MAJOR CONCERNS OF MANUFACTURERS...